Yesterday a friend of mine called and asked what baby items I really liked, or found essential. She was looking for something to send to her cousin who is having a baby really soon! Going through listing the items Kate loves or that we have found really helpful (or just plain neat), I decided I’d write a post to help those who are looking for a gift for a new mom, or if you are a mama and are interested in my experience with some of our favorite things. 🙂

First a foremost, I love these magnetic onesies/gowns by Magnificent Baby. My friend, Rebecca, let me borrow a gown and I fell in love! And so did all the nurses on my floor at Rex. We had one nurse who literally would bring other nurses by to take a look at Kate’s gown! Totally a hit. My advice is to purchase them from Amazon, and not from the manufacturer’s website. Amazon offers them at half the cost, and if you have Prime, you get free shipping! Win-win!

We also really love the Aden + Anais swaddling blankets. You don’t have to use these to swaddle your baby (Kate doesn’t really like to be swaddled unless she has free range of her hands, which then, what’s the point?), but we use these little light-weight cotton numbers to throw over Kate in the car seat, and also as burp cloths. Just throw one over your shoulder and voila! Instant outfit-saver! We also have the towel set and burp cloth/bib; we love them all!

The only pacifier she will take is the WubbaNub. You can purchase these cute pacies at Buy Buy Baby, Babies R Us and Amazon. She’ll occasionally take the GumDrop if she’s desperate.

We literally couldn’t live without the Rock-n-Play Sleeper. Kate sleeps in this, she’s lays in this to look around…it’s so easy to move from room to room…I could go on and on about how wonderful this is! One of our friends who had a baby in November purchased the sleeper as a gift for us and it is def one that we’ve gotten a TON of use out of.

Speaking of sleep, we also have used both the Sleep Sheep (we have the smaller, travel version) and the Dumbo Soother; Kate loves them both! To be honest, I really love the soothing sounds myself. It’s so nice to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean. 🙂

So there you have it! All the baby stuff we love! Do you have anything you’d add to this list? What are some of your favorite baby products?